Chapter 15: Deadlock Entered
At 12:05, Marian Crowe stopped being a future and became a locked filing cabinet.
Five minutes earlier, I had faced Oliver and Pippa across North Quay’s contract-room table.
The complete draft C2 package had reached both creator accounts at 11:42, with its attachments and activation summary.
Its attached certificate showed second-review approval at 11:53.
At noon, only Oliver’s final temporary proposal and the activation button remained.
PageTurn sat on my own laptop under a separate login, separate rules, and an invitation delivered before the contract meeting began.
“Give Pippa six months,” Oliver said.
His proposal carried three prepared assets: a bridge biography for booksellers, a final-volume pitch for publicity, and a successor campaign card for social channels.
The card placed Pippa’s portrait beneath THE FUTURE OF MARIAN CROWE, using the same silver type that had appeared behind us at Rowan Hall.
It needed my signature to leave draft status.
“Keep Marian Crowe frozen,” I said.
The administrator placed my answer beside Oliver’s proposal.
Pippa lifted the printed campaign card, read the biography line beneath her photograph, and returned the sheet face down between Oliver’s hands.
“Activate the deadlock,” I said.
Oliver pressed REQUEST HOLD on his mirrored screen.
The system returned SECOND CREATOR APPROVAL REQUIRED and left his request amber on both creator screens.
“Stop the package and leave the biography pending,” he said.
The administrator pointed to the dual-delivery receipts and completed second review.
His late request entered the log as a final objection; the green activation path stayed ready.
I clicked CONFIRM RECEIPT, accepting the accuracy of my copy rather than any future use of the shared name.
The administrator selected ACTIVATE C2.
At 12:05, C2 replaced C1 on the North Quay screen.
Three publicity tiles refreshed together, each losing the green launch dot Oliver’s proposal had assigned it.
BRIDGE BIOGRAPHY — CANCELLED.
FINAL-VOLUME PITCH — NO AUTHORITY.
SUCCESSOR CAMPAIGN CARD — CANCELLED.
Oliver’s chair struck the wall as he stood, and the printed successor card slid from the table to the carpet.
“Put the biography back.”
The administrator opened the active status beside it: SHARED NAME — FORMAL DEADLOCK, EFFECTIVE 12:05 BST.
Oliver sat again, leaving the chair crooked.
The future he had staged at Rowan Hall had disappeared asset by asset while the six existing books remained untouched below the cancelled tiles.
The verified-facts attachment entered the archive with C2, closing basic attribution.
It recorded my majority of initial drafts and series structure, alongside Oliver’s verified performance and dialogue development across the archived live work.
His initial draft of Book Two, Chapter Eleven appeared with my later structural rewrite; Pippa’s existing-series contribution remained zero, closing the base attribution question in one entry.
The six published books and their royalty schedules continued under established terms, while future independent work moved to future contracts.
The PageTurn invitations had arrived separately before noon, one addressed to me and one addressed jointly to Oliver and Pippa.
I opened the independent-project rules link already attached to mine.
Two applicant lanes appeared under the same heading, with matching white cards and matching submission clocks.
GRACE ELLISON — ELIGIBLE TO SUBMIT.
OLIVER ELLISON / PIPPA CRANE — ELIGIBLE TO SUBMIT.
The deadline, word limit, review route, and ban on Marian Crowe branding matched.
Selection and commissioning would come later.
Even so, Oliver’s exclusive future had become two equal starting lines on a page he controlled no more than I did.
I clicked ACKNOWLEDGE beneath my own name.
The receipt made my fear specific: Grace Ellison would carry every result.
I closed PageTurn and opened the event organiser’s public upcoming-features calendar.
FUTURE BRAND VOICES — PIPPA CRANE: SUCCESSOR PROFILE — BOOKED, UNPUBLISHED.
The public preview sold her specifically as Marian Crowe’s successor; that theme was the booking premise.
At 12:05, the organiser had issued no change notice, so the booking remained on its public schedule.
Back on PageTurn’s public rules, one final launch condition sat beneath both lanes.
If both projects were commissioned, the two pilots would go live at the same minute.